Snake Bytes: 09/20 - How to draw a loss

Diamondbacks News

[AZ SnakePit]: Diamondbacks 6, Astros 7: Battle of the Zacks - A Rematch

Yesterday’s guest recap was presented to you by mcbenseigs who decided to leave the environmental world for what it is for a moment to watch and analyse his beloved D-Backs. “Bad teams find ways to lose”, wrote Ben, and that was yet again very true for the Snakes who had a decent performance until friend Zack Greinke left the mound for the Astros. A familiar “defensive miscues and ineffective bullpen relief” cost the Diamondbacks a win. This time it was reliever Brandyn Sittinger who blew the game, saw his fairy tale turn into a nightmare and his ERA rise to an acceptable Diamondbacks’ reliever value.

[AZ Central] Big bats can’t save Diamondbacks in loss to Astros

If there was anything unique in this loss, wrote Nick Piecoro, it was in the way manager Torey Lovullo explained his thinking after the game. Rather than go to his more established relievers late, Lovullo instead went to a pair of rookie relievers to open the seventh and eighth innings. Frias walked the bases loaded before exiting in the seventh. Right-hander Brandyn Sittinger served up back-to-back homers to give up the lead in the eighth.

[DBacks.com] D-backs evaluate young talent for 2022

Luís Frías made his MLB debut yesterday for the Diamondbacks. And...let’s be honest: the young pitcher narrowly escaped from a horrendous debut. Walking 3 batters and loading the bases isn’t particularly a good thing. Although quite understandable from a D-Backs point of view. “I think trying to get Frías through that seventh inning was pretty critical,” Lovullo said. Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks and Torey there was also an eighth inning. Torey was happy with the experience his young guys got: “This is a really good experience for them and a way for us to see what is happening inside of a very tough environment.”

[astros.com] Clutch B2B homers lift Astros in comeback

How different is the world, though, if you are manager of the Houston Astros. The Astros had their own rookies playing and saw them lift their team over the struggling boys from Arizona. Sittinger could not fool them: “I really liked that pitch, and I got it really well”, said Jose Siri who hit a homerun. McCormick wasn’t surprised when he got a steady diet of fastballs and hit his one pretty well too: “Siri hit that slider pretty far, so I had a feeling he was going to come [with a] fastball to me,” said McCormick. “He threw it middle-in, and I put a good swing on it.” “The young guys are picking us up,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “The young guys bring energy and excitement, just like your kids do,” Baker said. “They bring the silly stuff. That’s the exuberance of youth. I’ve always liked the combination of the two. They bring you energy and life, and the veterans bring knowledge and wisdom.”

[dbacks.com] Injuries & Roster Moves: Vargas, Faria

The D-Backs deemed it necessary to call up Ildemaro Vargas. The team wants to give young guys a look except for Andrew Young. Unlike Young, Vargas apparently is not a work-in-progress.

Jake Faria was kicked off the 40-man roster. He had a nice debut for the D-Backs but is not necessary. His ERA is too high as well with a 5.51 ERA. That makes him top 20 of all pitchers (41) who have thrown a ball for the Diamondbacks and that is just terrible. His FIP is better than Clippard’s BTW. Faria was replaced by Frias on the 40-man roster.

Around The MLB

[CBS Sports] Shohei Ohtani returns to mound after arm soreness and dominates but Angels come up short vs. A’s

“We have to shut him down!” “He won’t return this season!” And all of a sudden the Angels said he would start the game on Sunday against the A’s. Ohtani pitched 8 innings and punched out 10. But the miserable Angels could not give this Supersaiyan the support he deserved and still went down, like they normally do.

[CBS Sports] Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. separated after dugout shouting match during Padres’ loss to Cardinals

The worst record (huh?) over the last 10 games in the entire NL has left the Padres 3.5 games behind the Cardinals for the second Wild Card spot. Tensions arise in San Diego and Machado and Tatis were spotted shouting in yesterday’s game against rival St. Louis. Well, it is not like they were going to fist fight or anything, but it proves that things are not going well for the Padres.

Across The Wall

[Mexico] Fernando Rodney gets final out and clinches the LMB title for the Tijuana Toros

That isn’t really the headline of the article, but it is probably what interests us most. Rodney still does it and secured the victory for the Bulls from Tijuana who came back from a 3-0 deficit in the series to win the Mexican league title in 7 games over the Lions from Yucatán (Leones). It was just the second time a team in Mexico achieved this feat. For the Toros, founded in 2004, it is their second league title after winning it all for the first time in 2017.

Across The Atlantic

[Europe] The Netherlands claim 4th consecutive European Championship

It was the 24th title for the Dutch, who had to rally late against an Israel team that had upset the Italians in the semi-finals. Israel had a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh frame, but their bulpen couldn’t hold the lead and gave up 8 runs to see The Netherlands win 9-4. Italy won bronze (2-0) after beating Spain, who gave the Dutch a tough match in the semis. All in all it was a final four many would have expected at the beginning of the tournament. Great Britain participated as well and reached the quarter finals where they battled bravely, but lost against the eventual winner of the tournament.

[Denmark] ​The Stenløse Bulls conquered the 2021 Danish Title

The Bulls won their eighth, and second consecutive, Danish Championship after beating the Hørsholm Hurricanes over 3 games. It was the 12th time these two teams met eachother in the final Championship round.